Everyone has a favorite pen—a writing implement that once they've used it, they want to make sure no one else gets their hands on for as long as possible. Last week, we asked you which pen you'd never let go of, and while we expected the pen enthusiasts to respond, we didn't expect the well over 600 nominations we got, for all kinds of different makes and models of pens. We tallied up your nominations and rounded up the top five budget pens by model, so we could include as many of your choices as possible. Then we put them to an all-out vote. Now, we're back to highlight the overall winner.

Pen enthusiasts will tell you that you can never spend enough money to get a quality writing…
Read more Read more

Pilot Pens, led by your incredible love for the Pilot G2 (and also largely the V5 and V7 models) took the top spot with 44%of the votes cast.

Advertisement

Not too far behind in second place with 18% of the overall vote was Uniball Pens, with the Jetstream, Signo, and Onyx models topping the charts as your favorites. Hot on Uniball's heels in third place was Zebra Pens, most notably the F-301 and G-301 models, along with the F-701 and F-402—collectively they brought in over 16% of the votes cast. Lamy Pens picked up the fourth place spot and over 11% of the votes cast, with the Al-Star and Safari earning high praise from voters. Finally, in the rear, Sharpie's new pens brought in close to 10% of the vote.

The Hive Five is based on reader nominations. As with most Hive Five posts, if your favorite was left out, it's not because we hate it—it's because it didn't get the nominations required in the call for contenders post to make the top five. We understand it's a bit of a popularity contest, but if you have a favorite, we want to hear about it. Have a suggestion for the Hive Five? Send us an email at tips+hivefive@lifehacker.com!